Karl Rove: history revisited

A good friend of mine blogged about her feelings on this political hot-topic from last month. I got to thinking about it again and it pointed me directly into the face of where WE are in American history. Everyone comes at it from different angles, and I find that fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

Those who think Bush is a tyrant, and wouldn't blink before flipping a CIA agent into danger for political gain - think just that. Their opinion about this administration is based on immense frustration and outrage over things they believe are cataclysmic in nature. They believe we're suffering under the hands of a modern-day Hitler who will lead us all on a worldwide campaign of war, with no end in sight. All so we can spread our doctrine and make everyone else believe the way we do or suffer the consequences.

Those who think Rove made a blunder, and the whole mess was just a misunderstanding...are also the people who buy the undercarriage sealant warranty coverage for their vehicles. They're suckers, but they vote.

The people who live for 24-hour news, and in-depth political rumor mills see it as a minor snafu that eventually led to a mutual agreement (i.e. "oops") between the people at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and the NY Times. While the journalist may have revealed the identity of the agent first, Rove did reveal it as well -- regardless of intent. While he may have thought the cat was out of the bag already, he should have been thinking on his toes better. After all, he is the idea man for the Bush White House. With a job like that, he shouldn't have an off switch for his brain.

Then there are some, like myself, who look to the White House and just hope they see something happen.

This Carl Rove business, combined with the murky pace of the war, has extended past the American pop-culture time limit of interest. I would like to believe that we're all like the generation of Americans who persevered against evil and won, but we're not. I'm afraid after three more celebrity breakups, a handful of missing children on the news, and another energy crunch -- we'll just tire of the cause in favor of something new to be adamant about.

Sure, we all waved the flag on our car antenna for a year or so. We still talk like we'll never forget. Most people even keep the anti-war protests respectful to the American soldiers...something we failed at in Vietnam. But a few more fashion seasons focusing on the new fuchsia and I worry we'll just chalk this one up to parachute pants, EST and TaeBo.

It'll be a fad.

The whole initiative to stamp out this way of thinking. This whole idea of beating down one of the last frontiers of injustice in the world, and bringing us that much closer to peace -- it'll be a fad. The hope we had after 9/11 from watching the world seem to join as one and rally together in unison -- it's already deflated. We had the opportunity to really become that ideal planet of "united but unique" people that you read about in the dreams of fiction. We've already become indifferent to it. It would be too much work to try and bring about world peace. C'mon, that's new age bullshit anyway -- isn't it?

In the end, what do we want from all this?

I mean if we're gonna engage in a campaign to stamp out terrorism, aren't we supposed to actually engage terrorism? We want the President to look like he's accomplishing something. Tangible results are what keep this information age public, attached to things. What's been happening lately seems like a whole lot less than what we were expecting. Regardless of your political values, you wanted something important to rise from the ashes of 9/11.

I just don't think a lot of us feel like we've done a whole lot yet.

I piss people off by saying we shouldn't wear kid-gloves with multiple cultures of people used to tyrannical and fundamentalist absolutes. I piss people off by saying that Muslim people respect power when it's justly dealt -- even if it's in opposition to themselves. I piss people off by saying Iraq should have merely been a speed bump in the "war on terrorism". They think I'm nuts when I say we should have been as iron fisted as those tyrants because the Middle East is full of people with skin as tough as stone.

They have more history than we can make up. They've seen more pain and suffering, and felt more pure joy than we can ever experience jacked into the pipeline of excess we drown in. They think we're spoiled children who have wasted our blessings. They think they're the good people fighting the big bad guys. They're looking for the opportunity to end what they think is a waste of human potential.

And it seems like a bunch of old men with old ideas are losing a war because they aren't using the benefits of their age and experience. They're losing a war because they don't understand the mentality of the underdog. While we've only been a world superpower for a measly 50 years, the men and women on capital hill have a festering wound of historical detachment blinding them from the truth:

This whole America thing, could be gone in a day.

Rome may not have been built in a day, but it was quickly bitch slapped into oblivion by a small, zealous, and poorly armed group of people who thought the Romans acted like foolish children who wasted their blessings. The greatest civilization that ever existed (for a whole lot longer than our 229 years, I might add) was wiped out by terrorism, and a systematic opposition to their way of life. A group of people murmured and complained under the thumb of the Romans until they convinced themselves the big bad guy could be taken down.

This is a war that we should have won by now.

This is a war where we need to look at the big picture. After human beings became powerful enough to travel anywhere, find anything, split atoms, and go to the moon -- we lost touch with what happened to people who didn't simply watch their backs. The information age should (theoretically) give us the tool of perspective. We should see the mistakes of previous civilizations, and learn from them.

We shouldn't be so apathetic. We should demand that our leaders be people who look at the big picture. We should demand that they remember how we were just another country like everyone else before we rose up 50 years ago.

We became great. We weren't born that way.